


Office Affairs

by wickedgal08



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Office Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-01
Updated: 2013-11-01
Packaged: 2017-12-31 05:17:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1027675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wickedgal08/pseuds/wickedgal08
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Created from a fic prompt. Dedicated to tumblr user iam-veronicagarcia. Reid and Seaver attempt to insert romance into the workplace, with semi disastrous results.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Office Affairs

They quickly learn trying to merge their romantic and professional facades separate is harder than they originally thought.

It starts off as a cute little private joke between them, before they were so open with their relationship. Reid would leave her books he recommended on her desk, with highlighted passages he deemed to be worthy of reflecting their current circumstances, and she would roll her eyes and shake her head, pretending not to give a damn about his literature recommendations. 

In truth, his level of genius goes way above her head, but she finds herself reading his recommendations anyway, and actually finds that in Reid's own language, this is his way of telling her he loves her. 

In retaliation, she makes sure to get him first editions of his favourite childhood books, something he always appreciates for about a second before launching into information about the author and the subject matter that has her eyes glazing over in minutes. 

The others quickly catch on to what's going on - as profilers, it would be remiss of them not to notice, after all - but they sensibly stay out of it, for the most part, although Morgan winks at Reid more than he's comfortable with, and Emily sneaks in smiles in Seaver's direction, and they both exchange a look and for a brief second regret the work they're involved in.

One day, she plans a romantic trip for them on one of the computers, only for Hotch to walk in and catch her looking at holiday websites (luckily missing the box she'd checked on the search engine implying it was a trip for two). 

Amazingly, Hotch takes it in stride, and actually smiles, joking that her attempts at hinting for some holiday time are more than transparent, and then he walks away, leaving her to wonder what kind of wonderland she's wandered into. 

Reid is still fairly new to the whole experience of romance, but that doesn't stop him attempting to smuggle candles in, and a picnic basket (with all the food left at home, because despite his intelligence levels being sky high, he isn't immune against the basic human flaw of forgetfulness unfortunately), in an attempt to steal them some alone time.

Of course, as Seaver walks in, looking coy and beautiful, dangerous and oddly fragile at the same time, the rest of their co-workers traipse in after her as a case has just come through, and he has to hurriedly hide the evidence of their near date, but he's fooling no one.

This later prompts Hotch to take them both aside, saying that although workers' relationships are their own business, he has a policy to adhere to which states that it is frowned upon for them to be involved. 

Reid immediately starts reeling off some rules and regulations and former cases which could effectively counter his argument, but Hotch interrupts him, tells them he's not going to say anything (there's a hint of a smile when he says that), and then reveals to them that he's given them both the weekend off so that they can have some proper alone time together. 

"Thanks, Hotch," they chime in unison. 

He sits at his desk and raises his eyebrows.

"Do you even know what the odds are that you two could keep something like this secret from a group of profilers?"

Reid opens his mouth to give him the answer, but Seaver digs an elbow into his ribs.

"Right, rhetorical question," he mutters. 

They effectively decide after that that why their relationship works is because it doesn't run on romance. She's attracted to his intelligence, to how he can read so fast and absorb so much, and the way he scrunches his nose sometimes when he's concentrating is endearing. 

Seaver to Reid is an enigma, and he likes that about her. He could learn a lot about her from a file, but he likes that instead she reveals herself to him, piece by piece, until he gradually learns, not from reading or studying anything, who she really is. 

That's what they're about, what they've always been about.


End file.
